


Spilling the Plot Juice

by ValkyriePhoenix



Series: Things That Should Not Have Worked: a Brief History of S.H.I.E.L.D. [9]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Plot!, Rating May Change, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-09
Packaged: 2019-03-02 22:28:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13327695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyriePhoenix/pseuds/ValkyriePhoenix
Summary: The work where pure, unadulterated plot shall be put. Crack Cookies will stay in Code Chartreuse.





	Spilling the Plot Juice

Loki sighed and closed the book he was reading thoughtfully. The Jachkt had sent to him, via Ciara, a copy of their Books: their book of language, their holy book, their book of law, and their book of records. It was providing...interesting reading. Much about his new daughter suddenly made sense when viewed through the lens the books provided, and many of the concepts expressed soothed aches deep inside him.  But some things…. Some things rocked him to his core. He wished so earnestly to show the books to his mother to see what she thought of them, but he wasn’t sure if he was allowed, the Jachkt were a secretive lot, that they had let him have the books at all was astounding.

 

He got up to stretch and rest his mind for a moment, Allspeach had difficulty with Jachkthdaghe, as some words were for concepts that just didn’t exist in languages he knew already, and most words were several metaphors at once, so that each sentence was five or six sentences at once. It was exhausting, and meant he needed to take the time to let meanings and implications settle into his mind.

 

He poured himself a cup of coffee from the pot Kaydee kept full in his office and pondered whe portion he had just finished. It was, perhaps, the reason he had been given the books. That a population as large as the Jachkt had a means of finding the True Name of any individual and used it so liberally and that it was such an intrinsic part of their culture was terrifying. Most people, if they gave any thought to it at all, misunderstood the danger to a mage of the wrong people having their true name. It did not give complete power over the mage, it did make targeting them with spells 100% accurate, and predicting what they would do purest simplicity.

 

As he pondered, it occurred to him that the Jachkt method did not pose the risks that would ordinarily be present in a mage knowing another’s True Name. It was part religious ritual, part meditation vision quest, and part magic that provided a deep knowledge of who the person in question IS and a word of all-meanings that fits them. A deeper understanding of a person than even they themselves had. Which in turn created a bond that is part parental, part older sibling and part priest/therapist between the namer and the namee.

 

He turned his attention to his daughter and the curse on those who would name her. Perhaps….

 

He opened the cabinet behind him and pulled out his scrying bowl, readying himself to call Frigga. His mother would know.

 

“Loki!” Frigga beamed.

 

“Hello, Mother.”

 

“To what do I owe the pleasure of talking to my son this day?”

 

“You always see the truth of me, Mother. Yes, I have a reason for calling. I have been given some books…” As Loki explained the Jachkt books and their contents, he watched his mother closely. She was bright, having daughters and grandchildren to worry over seemed to be doing her good. He nodded to himself, Frigga was always at her best when she had others to take care of.

 

“You have worked more directly with the curse than I, Mother, how explicit was it? Does it specify  _ giving _ her a name, or is it more general?”

 

“How I answer that depends on what you want to do, my son.”   
  
“The Jachkt holy book includes a means of Name-Finding that lacks the risks usually inherent in such a thing. Were I to do it, I would be  _ finding  _ her name, not  _ giving  _ her an arbitrary one. Would the curse care about the difference, or would finding be allowable?”

 

Frigga thought carefully, “Yes, I believe it is explicit enough for that, under the same exceptions that allow for personal nicknames, and titles but not a name she is known by, but I want you to do it here so I can keep an eye on you, just in case.”

 

“Of course, Mother, I was just going to ask exactly that. The Name Finding is part vision-quest, and I want a mage-guardian while I seek her name, for I would not be able to guard myself then.”

 

***

 

Loki smiled softly at his daughter as she thoughtfully plucked at the strings of her kalchnor, which Darcy called a contra-lirone.

 

“Katerine was right, beloved, names are important. Among other things, they mark you as valued, as a person, as a unique individual, not as a thing to be used and discarded and identical to other things. But I am not going to  _ give  _ you a name, I want to  _ find  _ the name you already have but no one knows.”

 

“You’re  _ sure _ it will work? The curse….”

 

“Won’t trigger, and Mother will be guarding us anyways, as vision quests can sometimes be dangerous to interrupt.”

 

Little smiled up at her Pabbi. If anyone could do it safely, it would be him, and it was what Katerine had wanted for her. It was worth it to try for that reason alone, for Katerine. She nodded.

 

***

 

Loki sat in the dark across from his daughter and Sought for the truth of her, as the magic bound him ever tighter to her, and she to him. As he Looked, he focused all his attention on the echoing questions and listened intently for answers. When the questions stopped echoing around him, and the vision hit, it left him breathless. As all things where the Jachkt were concerned, a single word, wrought deep with meanings and Meaning, drawing clear images, one after the other, rang clear and loud, rocking him back in his seat on the floor.

  
In his mind, he flew up the side of an active volcano as it exploded with fury, and followed it down, down, down into the earth, past fossils of great beasts and dragons, down to where the flow of molten metal caused the earth to rotate, produced the electromagnetic shield that protected the earth, burned hotter than anything on the surface, caused the earth to shake and tremor, brought life and brought destruction, making islands in the seas and destroying them. He smiled.   
  
Mal’ghankha. The deepest fire that burns hottest but is the turning of the world. Life and destruction, protection and death of all. The point upon which the world turns. Ever-approaching change. The coming of Day.  Magma, the Fire of the World.

**Author's Note:**

> This becomes their nightly song/lullaby. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh4dTLJ9q9o


End file.
